Christian Tarot Reader

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this. I am a Christian. I was wondering if there were other Christians on this forum. Does it bring up conflicts for you to use the cards? If you are at peace with it, what has led you to being there? Do you keep it secret or only let the closest people in your life know you do tarot?

I've been feeling convicted about using them to predict the future, but for advice or revelation, I think it's alright. I'm open to being wrong though. I pray when I use them, and I think God can do whatever he wants. If he wants to use these cards to finally get through to me, then he will.

I'm not a Christian but a practicing Zen Buddhist and whilst divination is generally discouraged (it's not banned, just not regarded to be very useful) self knowledge is essential. Meditation is the main tool of the Zen practice but I personally find Tarot cards also a very useful tool. I can relate to many of the cards. E.g Fool as beginners mind - and the Hermit as being 'a lamp unto yourself'. I find many of the cards in the Osho Zen Tarot very resonant though what I know of Osho himself is a bit off-putting. There are lots of decks with strong Christian iconography. As a tool for self reflection, self knowledge and growth, I'm so pleased to have found the Tarot and I don't feel I have to even try and use it for fortune telling. That said. I don't discuss my Tarot use with members of my sangha, they don't need to know.

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Hi, Page of Wands. I'm a practicing Catholic, and a convert to Catholicism. Growing up, my parents were followers of a spiritual teacher, an avatar from India popular during the late 60's and early 70's. I see no contradiction between those beliefs and practicing Catholicism at all, but that is because my spiritual beliefs are very non-dogmatic. Not all Catholics are non-dogmatic. My interpretation of the religion is not fear-based or exclusive.

I essentially believe all people have the ability to perceive truth, and to discern between light and dark and choose what is in their highest good. I believe all religions are spiritual paths, and that after our incarnation here, it is the same for everyone. A sincere heart, whether atheist or religious, is what allows us to spiritually evolve.

My guess is that you come from a more evangelical Christian background common in the US, because of the terminology you are using. There is a great deal of fear and mental control in that religion. When you decide something is sinful, or off-limits, then it becomes that for you. In the Old Testament, there are stories of arcane Jewish rules that were not followed that bring judgment. In reality, the judgement is brought not by God, because as Jesus says, the Kingdom of Heaven is in you, but by the ego and the person's own judgments of himself.

It's very difficult to get out of the mental vice of fundamental religion, because there are so many mental traps and limits. If you receive a helpful insight from Tarot, which is not very different from receiving insight from prayer or a Bible verse, you are trained to believe it's a trick of the devil. It's very hard to move beyond that, sometimes.

There are LOADS of Christians on this forum, and most of them have no particular conflicts - though many used to have.

Some do with Christian RELATIVES or friends. But on the whole - if it feels right to you - you'll be OK.

I don't use them for prediction, myself - not that I'm a Christian, more because I do NOT believe the future is set in stone so any prediction is only true in the second it is made. MY father was an Anglican minister and he knew of my interest and was fine with it. If that helps at all.

Following this with interest.

I used to be a Christian myself and while I was I viewed tarot, reiki, crystal work and other things I am into now as straight from satan. Not in a direct sense but merely because they redirect focus away from the single place I used to believe we should look to for guidance and truth - an external deity.

I should have said also that whilst being a Buddhist for the past 11 years or so, I was brought up in a strict calvinist Christian household and as a child was completely forbidden to have anything to do Halloween, ghost stories, or anything remotely occult as it was seen as extremely evil. Even handling Tarot cards would have been regarded as an invitation to let the devil in. My Dad was very religious up until his death two years ago. This is around the time I first started studying Tarot. I've always been interested and had over time come to realise they are not remotely 'evil' but it was only really after my Dad died I gave myself permission to embrace them. So I agree with previous comments that the mental stronghold that comes with an indoctrination against tools like Tarot can be very hard to break through.

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I'm a former Roman Catholic, currently Episcopalian. I don't have a conflict with Tarot, but that may be because I see it as more a form of psychology than anything else. The four suits associated with Tarot correspond with typical things or actions: money/material wealth and health (coins), relationships (cups), actions and projects (wands), intellectual and spiritual pursuits (swords). Most people deal with all of those things at some point. The court cards are people or archetypes, and the Major Arcana deal with life issues and experiences.

Tarot decks now come in a variety of art styles and themes. I originally learned Tarot on the standard Ryder-Waite-Smith deck, but the overt religious symbolism really got in the way, so I switched to a different set of decks and found reading much easier. Depending on the deck, there may or may not be much religious symbolism (various decks replace “The Devil” with “Temptation” or a related theme, for example).

Also, I believe that God speaks to us in many ways, including our interactions with other people and the world around us, so Tarot is just another tool I can use to ask for clarification or direction, or to focus my own attention on something. When I read for others, their reactions to the cards steers the conversation and, again, can be seen as identifying information they either already have subconsciously or as passing on information from a Higher Source.

As a retired Roman Catholic (I no longer practice or believe in religions per se) my comment is merely that the Church, in its inception, forbade the practice of fortune-telling, because it would take away power from the priests as the only mouthpieces to God's True Word. They wanted the religion to take over Paganism completely - and so forbade anything the Pagans might be up to. (by the way, the Chalice, the Sword, the Basin (alchemical crucible) and the Staff were ALL appropriated from the Pagans, to smooth the way for crossing over into Christianity from Paganism!)

They said it was because God was the only certain master of the future, and to have faith in anything else besides God was to fall short. To be a non-believer. Thus making sure the priests were the only way you could reach God.

You cannot control a group of people unless you brand any actions you don't want them to do as evil. And then proceed to frighten the bejeebers out of them, with visions of Hell, to make them obey and toe the line.

Thus the tarot fell into the pile of horrible Devil worshiping tools, like books, dancing, playing cards, games, amusements, musical instruments, pastimes.

There is no inherent evil in the Tarot. Use it for good, and good will come of it, just like any other tool. And as my mother used to always say, if you can't hear God speaking in your heart, you won't hear Him in church, either. The True Church is your heart, not some building. If Tarot helps you hear Him in the cathedral of your heart, then go for it!

PS remember all the many Saints who were lauded and revered for their ability to see the future...! http://www.miraclesofthesaints.com/2010/09/prophecies-in-lives-of-saints.html

Prophecy is a gift from God.

There are so many different ways to interpret the phrase "I am a Christian" that I think you'd need to define for yourself exactly what 'being a Christian' means to you before you try to decide whether Tarot has any place in your life.

Does the Christianity of your belief system make room for any form of self reflection? Is yours an especially dogmatic faith?

As others have said, many religious organizations shun anything with even the vaguest 'occult' historical origins, and expect their followers to do the same. (even if certain aspects of the faith itself might not stand up to rigorous scrutiny along those same lines)

For me, faith is about an individual's own relationship with the divine, free will and personal responsibility being a huge part of it.

Others feel very differently, that the individual ought to surrender their their own opinions, accepting the will of the organization and those in charge.

CharlotteK said:

I'm not a Christian but a practicing Zen Buddhist and whilst divination is generally discouraged (it's not banned, just not regarded to be very useful) self knowledge is essential. Meditation is the main tool of the Zen practice but I personally find Tarot cards also a very useful tool. I can relate to many of the cards. E.g Fool as beginners mind - and the Hermit as being 'a lamp unto yourself'. I find many of the cards in the Osho Zen Tarot very resonant though what I know of Osho himself is a bit off-putting. There are lots of decks with strong Christian iconography. As a tool for self reflection, self knowledge and growth, I'm so pleased to have found the Tarot and I don't feel I have to even try and use it for fortune telling. That said. I don't discuss my Tarot use with members of my sangha, they don't need to know.

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Thank you for sharing your perspective. Yeah, I wouldn't share it with my church. They wouldn't understand.